Feed and litter carrier.



H. L. FBRRIS.-

FEED AND LITTER CARRIER.

APPLICATION FILED'DEO.11, 1907.

No. 888,878. I PATENTED MAY 26, 1908.

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H. L. FERRIS. FEED AND LITTER CARRIER.

APPLICATION FILED DEO.11,1907.'

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v HENRY L. FERRIS, OF HARVARD, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO HUNT, HELM, FERRIS dz COMPANY,

or HARVARD, ILLINOIS.

FEED AND LITTER CARRIER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 26, 1908.

Application filed December 11, 1907. Serial No. 406,015.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HENRY L. Fnnms, a citizen of the United States, residing at Harvard, in the county of McHenry and State of Illinois, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Feed and Litter Carriers, of which the following is a specification.

'My invention relates to certain new and useful improvements in feed and litter carriers, and is fully described and explained in the specification and shown in the accompanying drawings, in which: I

Figure 1 is an elevation of my improved device showing. the same in position upon a track Fig. 2 is a central longitudinal section through one of the hangers and parts adjacent thereto; Fig. 3 is an end view of the parts shown in Fig. 2 looking from the left as seen in Fig. 2 Fig. 4 is a central longitudinal section through the container and its.

supporting frame showing the tripping device in one position; and Fig. 5 is a similar section showing the tripping device in a different position.

The feed and litter carrier herein shown, described and explained is substantially the same as that shown and described in my application filed March 18th, 1907, Serial No. 362,990, in which application a requirement for division has been made. The claims to the general construction 'and arrangement of the carrier and its hoisting means have been divided out of the foregoing.

substantially horizontal webs and an up wardly extending central slotted portion. Upon the track A run pulleys 1) arranged in pairs and mounted upon the two horizontal webs of the track, the said pulleys being secured in position in hangers B which may be of any desired form and are suitable for surrounding the track A. Swiveled to the hangers B are journaled C, C between which extends a rotatable shaft D preferably constructed of tubing for the sake of strength and lightness. On one end of the shaft D is mounted a gear E freely rotatable with recountershaft e extending transversely withrespect to the shaft D, and journaled in suitable brackets provided to receive it upon the hanger B. To one end of the shaft 6 is secured a sheave F over which runs a continuous loop of chain or other'flexible material F It will be obvious that by drawing the loop F continuously in one direction, the sheave F will be rotated with consequent rotation of the gear E through the medium of the worm E Reverse action, 6. e. rotation of the sheave by pressure exerted upon the gears is readily prevented by properly arranging the pitch of the worm and gear.

In order to secure a rotation of the shaft D when the gear E is rotated I secure to the shaft D a longitudinally movable clutch-collar G secured against rotation with respect to the shaft by means of a pin 9 passing through a slot in the shaft. Theface of the clutchcollar adjacent to the gear E is formed with projections adapted to engage with corresponding depressions in the face of the gear, all formed in the ordinary way common in such devices. Pivoted to the .bracket in which the worm E is journaled, is a bell crank lever G having a horizontal arm and a vertical arm, the horizontal'arm having secured to its extremity a chain g by which the bell-crank lever can be rotated. The vertical arm of the bell-crank is bifurcated and carries upon its upper end pins which run in an annular groove upon the clutch-collar G. The bellcrank lever G is normally held, by means of a spring g in such position as to hold the clutch-collar G in engagement withthe gear E so that the shaft and gear will normally rotate together, but the shaft can be disengaged from the gear at any time by drawing down upon the chain 9 As a matter of convenience I utilize the chain 9 as an anchoring chain and for this purpose I secure not tend to rotate the bell-crank and disen' gage the clutch.

H indicates the container of my improved feed and litter carrier, the same being pivotally supported in unstable equilibrium in an inverted U shaped frame H Locking means for holding the container in an upright position are provided, the said locking-means in the preferred form of construction, which is herein illustrated, being in the form of an im provement upon that shown, described and claimed in my application filed March 18th, 1907, Serial No. 362989 above identified. This loclung-mechanism is fully illustrated in Figs. 4 and 5 and will presently be described in detail. 7 r

The frame H has at its upper corner two pulleys h. leys, the chain I being fastened to an eye i fast upon the shaft D at one end and having its opposite end secured to a collar i rotatable upon the said shaft but held against longitudinal movement thereon, and the chain I having one end stationarily secured to an eye upon the shaft D and having its opposite end secured to an eye in the journal C -Thus vwhen the shaft D is rotated by the means already described, the two left-hand ends of the chain I, I willbe'wound up upon said shaft so that the frame H in container H will be raised. Then raised these parts will stay in any desired position by reason of the use of they worm and gear as one of the elements of the hoisting means and the same can readily be lowered by throwing out the clutch to permit the shaft to rotate in a reversed direction. The right-hand ends or links of the chain will not be wound up so that the shaft will have a double leverage upon the container.

Referring now to Figs. 4 and 5 it will be seen that the frame H has projecting laterally from it above the pivots of the container a pair of brackets j, j to which are pivoted catch levers J, J of the first order, the inner ends of the aforesaid levers projecting through slots in the frame H and engaging notches upon projections j on the sides of the c ntainer. This engagement takes place when the inner ends of the levers are in their upper position and the outer ends of the levers are in their lower position as shown in 4. A point upon the lever J inside the pivot thereof is connected by a chain J to a po'nt on the lever J outside the pivot thereof. The aforesaid chain runs in the channel of the frame H which said frame is prefer- Chains I, I run over these pulably constructed of oppositely facing channel iron as illustrated, and by means of the chain the two levers are caused to movesimultaneously in corresponding directions, i. 6. they are both caused to raise and to lower their inner ends simultaneously. The two levers are held normally in the position shown in Fig. 4-. by means of a spring J connecting the frame H with a point on the lever J inside its pivot, the said spring being adapted to normally draw the inner end of said lever upward. The outer end of the lever J is bifurcated after the manner of the bifurcation of the trip-arm H of my application No. 362,989.

Longitudinally movable upon the track A is a trip support K in the form of a sheetmetal frame adapted to engage with the track. A chain K extends downward from the tri a-support to a point below the lowest normal position of the lever J. A stop is provided at the lower end of the chain K preferably a hook 7c, and above this stop is a spring K upon which rests a tripping-member K in the form of a flat disk movable vertically upon the chain K The operation of the tripping mechanism can now be set forth and it will be readily understood from the foregoing description of its mechanical construction. The common practice in using these feed and litter carriers is to push them forcibly out of the barn so as to give them suflicient momentum to reach the dumping ground without the use of further power. At the point where it is desired to have them dump automatically,

i. e. at a" point ordinarily just over the wagon in wliiclrthey are to dump or just over the litter pile, the trip support Kis placed As the carrier moves along on the track its forward hanger will run over the trip support K the chain K HSSlD throu h the hanger.

I p b b 5 tents to dump. Any remaining momentum of the carrier will be taken up in compressing the spring K and to a certain extent by the spring J and as soon as the carrier has dumped and the momentum has been completely absorbei'l by these springs, the springs will give back the impetus they have absorbed and start the carrier back upon its return journey automatically. hen it is desired to adjust the height of the carrier, the height of the tripping member can be varied by simply looping up the lower end of the chain K and engaging the hook 76 with one of the higher links thereof, the spring i by Letters Patent, is

and tripping-member being simultaneously said. container and shaft whereby rotation moved upward.

It will be seen that the foregoing operation of the tripping-member is substantially the same as that set forth in my application Serial No. 362,989, but the device is simpler in construction and that it has the further advantage of providing a lock for the two ends of the carrier, which look is simultaneously operated through very simple mechanism. I am aware that it has heretofore been proposed to apply locking means to the two ends of the container in carriers of this sort but the particular construction and arrangement herein shown is highly advantageous, especially in the use of a chain running in the channel of the frame for connecting the locks together.

I realize that considerable variation is possible in the details of construction of my improved device, without departing from the spirit of my invention, and I do not intend therefore, to limit myself to the specific form herein shown and described.

l/Vhat I claim as new and desire to secure 1. The combination with a track, hangers upon the track and journals supported by the hangers, of a shaft rotatable between said journals, a gear loose upon said shaft, a worm in mesh with said gear, means for rotating said worm, a clutch member non-rotatably supported upon said shaft, and adapted to engage with said gear, a container, a connection between said container and shaft whereby the rotation of said shaft will raise said container.

2. The combination with a track, hangers upon the track and journals supported by the hangers, of a shaft rotatably mounted in said journals and extending between the same, a gear loose upon the shaft, a worm in mesh with said gear, means for rotating said worm, a clutch member non-rotatably supported on such shaft and adapted to engage said gear, means for normally holding said clutch member in engagement with said gear, means for disengaging said clutch member and gear, a container, and connections between said container and 'said shaft whereby the rotation of said shaft will raise said container.

The combination with a track, hangers upon the track and journals supported by the hangers, of a shaft rotatably mounted in said journals and extending between the same, a gear loose on the shaft, a worm in mesh with the gear, means for rotating said worm, a clutch member non-rotatably supported on said shaft adapted to engage said gear, means for normally holding said clutch member in engagement with said gear, a bell-crank lever pivoted. to said ournal and engaging said clutch member to release the same, a container and connections between of the shaft will raise and lower said container.

4. The combination with a track, hangers upon the track and journals supported by said hangers, of a shaft rotatably mounted between said journals, means for rotating said shaft, a container, pulleys supporting the container, and connections from said shaft running over said pulleys and back to non-rotatable supports.

5. The combination with a track, hangers upon the track and journals supported by the hangers, of a shaft rotatably mounted between said journals, means for rotating 5 said shaft, a container, pulleys supporting said container and connections running in bights from points upon said shaft to nonrotating supports separated laterally in the same direction from said points upon said shaft, said pulleys being supported by said bights.

6. The combination with a track, hangers upon the track and a rotatable shaft supported by the hanger, of a container, connections between the container andv the shaft whereby rotation of the shaft will raise the container, a gear loose upon said shaft and a worm in mesh with said gear, means for rotating said worm and a clutch member nonrotatably supported upon said shaft and adapted to engage with said gear.

7. The combination with a track, hangers upon the track and a rotatable shaft supported by the hanger, of a container, connections between the container and the shaft whereby rotation of the shaft will raise the container, a gear loose upon said shaft, a worm in mesh with said gear, means for rotating said worm and a clutch member nonrotatably supported upon said shaft and adapted to engage with said gear, and means for disengaging said clutch member from said gear and applying a resistance to the rotation of the shaft.

8. In a device of the class described, the combination of a yokeshaped frame and a container pivoted therein, with two catches mounted upon opposite ends of the frame and adapted to engage the container to support the same, and means connecting said catches and constructed and arranged so that one operates the other.

9. In a device of the class described, the combination of a yoke-shaped frame and a container pivoted therein, with two catches mounted upon opposite ends of the frame and adapted to engage the container to support the same, and flexible means connecting said catches and following the course of said yoke-shaped frame and so constructed and arranged that one catch operates the other.

10. The combination with a yoke-shaped frame and a container pivotally supported between the ends thereof, of two catch levers &

of the flrst order, pivotally supported by the ends of the frame and adapted to engage the container at opposite ends, flexible means of connection between the catches running from opposite sides of the pivots thereof whereby they move in corresponding operative direction, the said flexible connector following the course of the frame, and means for normally holding one of said catches in engaging position.

11. The combination with a yoke-shaped frame of outwardly facing channel iron and a container pivoted between the ends thereof, of two catch levers pivoted to opposite ends of the frame and adapted to engage the container at the opposite ends thereof and flexible means of connection between said catches running in a channel of the frame and con structed and arranged to cause said catches to move simultaneously in corresponding operative direction.

12. The combination with a track of hangers running upon the track, a container supported by the hangers and movable longitudinally upon the track therewith, a lever of the first order pivotally supported and adapted to engage directly with the container with one end and having its opposite end bifurcated, a flexible member depending from the track, a trip-member supported by said flexible member and adapted to engage said bifurcated end of said lever, when the container reaches a predetermined point upon the track whereby further movement of the container will operate said lever to release the container.

13. The combination with a track of hangers running upon the track, a container supported by the hangers and movable longitudinally upon the track therewith, two locking devices, one at each end of the container,

to the frame, catches mounted upon the frame upon opposite ends and adapted to engage the container, means of connection between the catches so constructed and ar ranged that one operates the other, a flexible member depending from the track, and a trip-member carried by said flexible member and adapted to engage one of the catches.

15. The combination with a track, hangers supported by the track, a frame supportedby the hangers, a container pivoted to the frame, and two catches mounted upon the frame and adapted to engage opposite ends of the container, one of said catches having a bifurcated end, and means of connection between the catches so constructed and arranged that one operates the other, of a flexible member depending from the track, and a trip-member carried by said flexible member and adapted to engage the bifurcated end of said catch.

16. The combination with a track, hangers supported by the track, a frame supported by the hangers, a container pivoted in the frame, catch levers pivoted to the frame at opposite ends thereof and adapted to engage the container, flexible means of connection between said catches following the general course of the frame, and so constructed and arranged that one catch operates the other, and a bifurcated projection upon one of said catches, of a flexible member depending from said track and a trip-member carried by said flexible member and adapted to engage said bifurcated end.

17. A combination with a track, hangers supported by the track, a yoke-shaped frame of outwardly facing channel iron supported by the hangers, a container pivoted between HENRY L. FERRIS.

In presence of:

. RALPH SCI-IAEFER,

W. F. JoNEs. 

